Shaken by Kariss Lynch

Author:Kariss Lynch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781621365372
Publisher: Charisma House
Published: 2013-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

FOURTEEN HOURS HAD passed since the earthquake, but Kaylan couldn’t remember the day of the week. More people arrived at the clinic. More bodies lay in the streets. Kaylan hobbled from patient to patient, stitching, cleaning, and applying salve and bandages until supplies ran out.

Aftershocks rattled remaining bodies, sending precariously perched rubble tumbling down. With every rumble, people sprinted to the middle of streets, covering their heads and wailing. Sometime during the day a voodoo candle was lit and placed in the middle of the street. The thick dust stamped its glow, but people instinctively ran to it during each aftershock—anything to get away from the crumbling buildings. As the shaking died away, hymns replaced the wailing, and the soothing sounds of Creole chants filled the streets, a true picture of the combination of Christianity and voodoo in Haiti.

“Help! We need help over here.” Rhonda and Kaylan rushed to a stretcher Abraham and Stevenson placed on the floor. A young girl, no older than sixteen, lay unconscious, her arm broken and protruding below the elbow. Kaylan gagged and averted her eyes, scanning the girl for more injuries.

“Where was she, Abe?”

“In a house up the hill. A boulder was on her arm. She passed out when we moved it.”

Rhonda pulled Kaylan aside. “We have to amputate, but the only medicine I have left to give her is Tylenol. Put these in her mouth and make sure she swallows them. I’ll need you to hold her down.”

Kaylan’s mouth fell open in horror. She had to be joking. “Can’t we just set her arm? Maybe it’s a bad break.”

“Believe me, if that was the case, I would do it in a heartbeat. I need your help, Kaylan.”

“Rhonda . . . ”

“She’ll die if we don’t.”

Kaylan looked at the girl and saw Sarah Beth’s twisted legs, blood slipping from her mouth, and unfocused blue eyes. Kaylan blinked away the images. “Just tell me what to do.”

Rhonda instructed Stevenson and Abraham as Kaylan gave the girl pills and water. The grind of a chainsaw drew Kaylan’s gaze. Abraham braced the girl on the table.

“No, Rhonda. You can’t use that.”

“We don’t have anything else. Lay across her, and hold her still.”

“Rhonda.”

“You think I want to do this? It’s her only option. Now, do as I say or leave and let Stevenson help.” A tear slid down Rhonda’s cheek.

Stretching her body over the girl’s torso, Kaylan angled her head away from the grinding noise. The girl’s body jerked as she screamed. Kaylan fought the urge to move off the girl as something warm splattered the back of her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut and then quickly opened them as the image of Sarah Beth flashed before her with a vengeance. Kaylan tightened her hold.

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